Tamerlane Ta*mer*lane" (t[a^]*m[~e]r*l[=a]n"), prop. n.
A Tatar conquerer, also called {Timur} or {Timour}
(t[=e]*m[^o]r") or {Timur Bey}, also {Timur-Leng} ('Timur the
Lame'), which was corrupted to Tamerlane. He was born in
Central Asia, 1333: died 1405. Though he claimeddescent from
Jenghiz Khan, it is believed that he was in fact descended
from a follower of the Khan. He became a ruler about 1370 of
a realm whose capital was Samarkand; conquered Persia,
Central Asia, and in 1398 a great part of India, including
Delhi; waged war with the Turkish Sultan Bajazet I.
(Beyazid), whom he defeated at Ancyra in 1402 and took
prisoner; and died while preparing to invade China. He is the
{Tamerlaine} of the plays.
[Century Dict. 1906]

Note: Timour (t[imac]*m[=oo]r"), Timur, or TAMERLANE, was the
second of the great conquerers whom central Asia sent
forth in the middle ages, and was born at Kesh, about
40 miles southeast of Samarkand, April 9, 1336. His
father was a Turkish chieftain and his mother claimed
descent from the great Genghis-Khan. When he became
tribal chieftain, Timour helped the Amir Hussein to
drive out the Kalmucks. Turkestan was thereupondividedbetween them, but soon war broke out between the two
chiefs, and the death of Hussein in battle made Timour
master of all Turkestan. He now began his career of
conquest, overcoming the Getes, Khiva and Khorassin,
after storming Herat. His ever-widening circle of
possessions soon embraced Persia, Mesopotamia, Georgia,
and the Mongol state, Kiptchak. He threatened Moscow,
burned Azoo, captured Delhi, overran Syria, and stormed
Bagdad, which had revolted. At last, July 20,1402,
Timour met the Sultan Bajazet of the Ottoman Turks, on
the plains of Angora, captured him and routed his army,
thus becoming master of the Turkish empire. He took but
a short rest at his capital, Samarkand, and in his
eagerness to conquer China, led his army of 200,000
across the Jaxartes on the ice, and pushed rapidly on
for 300 miles, when his death, Feb. 18, 1405, saved the
independence of China. Though notorious for his acts of
cruelty -- he may have slaughtered 80,000 in Delhi --
he was a patron of the arts. In his reign of 35 years,
this chief of a small tribe, dependent on the Kalmucks,
became the ruler of the vast territorystretching from
Moscow to the Ganges. A number of writings said to have
been written by Timour have been preserved in Persian,
one of which, the Institutions, has been translated
into English. --The Student's Cyclopedia, 1897.
[PJC]

Timur — (1334 1405) Born in the Barlas tribe of Mongolid Turks, Timur rose to kingship at Samarqand in 1370. With the help of his Turk Mongol corps of military officers, he established a vast empire that soon came to include the whole of Khwarazm and… … Historical dictionary of Medieval India